GFMD and the 2030 Agenda

On 25-27 September 2015, the leaders of all States Members of the United Nations have decided on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, setting out the new global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective of the 2030 Agenda is to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty. The Agenda recognizes the role of migrants, especially for inclusive growth and sustainable development, and thereby provides GFMD with a role to advance the implementation of the migration-related commitments in the 2030 Agenda.

GFMD's Role in Ensuring Migration-Related Targets in the 2030 Agenda

GFMD's efforts in promoting the inclusion of migration in the 2030 Agenda started under the Swedish Chairmanship of 2013-2014. The GFMD organized a thematic workshop and a dedicated Roundtable on the linkages of migration and development, and the imperative to include migration-related targets and goals in the post-2015 UN Development Agenda (which eventually resulted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development). In addition, an Expert Policy Dialogue on the role of migration and mobility in the Post-2015 Development agenda was held in February 2013, hosted by the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation. All these efforts enhanced GFMD's impact on the global migration and development agenda.

The May 2013 GFMD Thematic Meeting on “Operationalizing mainstreaming of migration in development policy and integrating migration in the post-2015 UN Development Agenda” explored the modalities for the inclusion of migration in the post-2015 development agenda, as well as national experiences and lessons learned in operationalizing the mainstreaming of migration in development planning.

The post-2015 Development Agenda also provided a backdrop for the Turkish GFMD Chairmanship of 2014-2015. During the 18-month Chairmanship, Turkey successfully included the linkages of migration to development in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. There was a dedicated Roundtable on ‘Migration in the context of the 2030 Development Agenda’, and Turkey held a Thematic Workshop on “Migration in the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda” in February of 2015, where the Turkish Chair urged the GFMD to consider what the post-2015 Agenda would mean in practice, and to review what progress has been made on including migration-related goals, targets and indicators in the agenda. The Chair stressed the need to insist that migration needed a place in the final negotiations of the post-2015 Agenda.

GFMD's Role in the Follow-up and Implementation of the 2030 Agenda

At the Istanbul Summit in October 2015, participating Member States endorsed the proposal to set up an ad hoc Working Group (WG) on the 2030 Agenda. The GFMD ad hoc WG on 2030 Agenda was established in February 2016 under the Bangladesh Chairmanship of 2016 with the key objective to “consider the best ways for the GFMD to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to contribute to the follow-up and review process.”

At the Ninth GFMD Summit in Dhaka, the Working Group presented its report containing specific preliminary recommendations on how the GFMD could support the follow up and implementation of the 2030 Agenda, through the functions of 1) providing a platform for voluntary sharing of experiences, progress and evidence on migration aspects of the 2030 agenda; 2) facilitating voluntary action by building partnerships on migration-related aspects of the 2030 Agenda; and 3) informing Member States, observers and relevant organizations of migration-related aspects of the 2030 Agenda and provide input. It was also decided in Dhaka that the mandate of the WG should be extended and expanded under the German-Moroccan Co-Chairmanship of 2017-2018, so that the WG could also work on GFMD's possible contribution to the newly-launched Global Compact on Migration process.

Since January 2017, the ad hoc WG on 2030 Agenda and GCM has focused its work stream on elaborating a draft report by the GFMD to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. The HLPF will be organized under the auspices of ECOSOC in July 2017 with the theme, “Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world”.

On 5 April 2017, both the Steering Group and the Friends of the Forum endorsed the draft GFMD Recommendations to the HLPF for submission to the office of the ECOSOC President. On 24 April, the document was subsequently submitted as GFMD's contribution to HLPF 2017. To promote GFMD’s reflections on migration-related SDGs in the 2030 Agenda, a GFMD side-event will be held on 12 or 13 July 2017 (date to be confirmed later) at the margins of the 2017 HLPF.